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The present invention relates generally to horticultural and agricultural lighting systems for use in growing plants indoors, and more particularly to a double-walled grow light housing having an integral air flow cooling system that may be either active or passive.
Indoor hydroponic and soil-based plant growing systems have evolved to become indispensable tools in both horticulture and agriculture. Each system includes, as essential elements, plant nutrient media and containers for such, climate control, lighting, and hydration. Large or full-sized plants, and those indigenous to latitudes and growing regions characterized by intense sunlight, frequently require high intensity lights for optimal growing conditions. However, high intensity lights generate considerable heat that can create injurious high temperatures in the immediate vicinity of the plants under the high intensity light. Additionally, high intensity lights give rise to temperature differentials throughout a facility in which diverse species are grown under varying lighting conditions. Thus, when tight control over temperature in the growing environment is important, a cooling system may be employed to prevent a general rise in temperature in the growing facility. Facility-wide cooling systems may employed to this end, but such systems are costly and, if operated to cool plants under the high intensity lights, may result in temperatures below optimum in the areas around plants under low intensity lighting.
The needed solution to this problem is a dedicated cooling system integrated into the high intensity grow light itself, and therefore directed only to the area immediately surrounding the plant or plants under the high intensity light.
The double-walled grow light housing of the present invention solves the problem of locally generated heat from high intensity bulbs. The housing comprises three primary parts: an exterior shell, an inner specular insert, and an intermediate positioning device. The shell has a gambrel roof-type shape, including a flat top and sides, the sides defined by a steeply inclined lower portion and a less steeply inclined upper portion. The front and rear sides of the shell are flat, and the front side slopes gently rearward. The front and rear sides each have an air inlet. The top includes a hot air exhaust.
In addition to the exterior shell, the housing includes an inner specular insert and a specular positioning device interposed between the shell and the insert when assembled. The insert is configured with sides which, in cooperation with the shell, form air cooling spaces when assembled. Because the housing is intended for use with a high intensity bulb, the insert includes vents that allow for hot air to circulate away from the bulb and outwardly into the air cooling chambers. There the air mixes with cooler air drawn into the cooling chambers through air inlets in the exterior shell; after mixing the air is vented upwardly and out through a hot air exhaust in the shell.